RAOC Gazette - page 15
Image details
| Corps | RAOC |
|---|---|
| Material type | Journals |
| Book page | |
| Chapter head | |
| Chapter key | |
| Chapter number | |
| Full title | RAOC Gazette |
| Page number | |
| Publication date | 1978 |
| Real page | |
| Colour | No |
| Grey | No |
| Early date | 1978 |
| Late date | 1978 |
| Transcription |
Having experienced most of the weather conditions possible in the British Isles, the team wended its way through Central London and (Traitors Gate being closed that day) beached at the Tower, where Brigadier Page was waiting to greet them and to receive, on behalf of the RAOC Aid Society, a cheque for £140. LIK.E D U C K S TO WATER [S a fund raising effort for the RAOC Aid Society, a group or" canoeists under the able leadership of Lieutenant Peter Mc- Ghie, paddled over one hundred miles from the most modern Ordnance Depot at Bicester to the most ancient at the Tower of London. The intrepid team of eight on Exercise Water Jaunt were representative of the Garrison as a whole comprising RAOC, RPC and WRAC, with a shoreborne back-up party. The group left Bicester one cold and damp Saturday and arcr farewells from Brigadier Malcolm Page, Commander B .ester Garrison, and Lieutenant Colonel Robin Bowden Com- m.mding Officer 16 Battalion, proceeded via the Rivers Ray, Cherwell and Thames to London, arriving much fitter and con- siderably more weather beaten than on departure. Four of the team were complete novices at the beginning of the trip but, under the able instruction of Private Bob Steward, the entire party reached the Tower without major mishap despite regular attempts by Private Bud Buonarowski RPC, to make the journey hull upwards (preferably towed by any friendly passing swan). Despite the protestations of Second Lieutenant Caroline Pcixton WRAC, it was found that her canoe cockpit was standard size. However, Private Sue Bray WRAC, made friends with her canoe the first day, and talked to it in Scots at regular intervals, even allowing it to take her down a weir which she wasn't quite prepared for! LOVE ALL A CHARITY RUGBY MATCH to end all charity rugby matches took place on Easter Sunday at the Ordnance Depot Northern Ireland against the 'Greenfinches' of 10 UDR. These magni- ficent girls displayed the same degree of courage on the field as they do off it and the terms l Ruck'.and ' Maul* were taken literally with the unfortunate referee having a difficult time deter- mining what or who was being mishandled. Corporal Alex Hastings and Lance Corporal Geordie Horsman played with permanent grins on their faces whilst Lance Corporal Chris Hadley quickly substituted himself when his wife arrived on the touchline. At half time some unsporting cad pointed out the CO to the girls and he became a marked man in every sense of the word. The result did not matter although W 2 John Crosland suggested it should have been ' Love All.' The game raised £50 and Sergeant Ellen Catherwood and Corporal Red Hancock presented the cheque to the Commanding Officer of the Military Wing of Musgrave Park Hospital. Photo Corporal Castillo, The girls in possession with the defence trying to keep their eye an the ball. At Tower Bridge. Left to right Private Riko Richardson, Brigadier Page, Private Sue Bray, Second Lieutenant Caroline ^aoon* Private Col King, Private Bud Buonarowski, Corporal Ss..-r/ Moore, Private Paddy McLousky, Lieutenant Peter Mc- Chie and Private Bob Stewart. Corporal Barry Moore direct from the sunshine of Cyprus, joined the group halfway through the exercise at Henley, and with the weight of previous canoeing experience behind him, persuaded Privates Paddy McLousky RPC and Colin King RAOC that, by chalking a line on his canoe and checking it at regular intervals, he would be able to tell when it was low water. He ^ i s later obliged to demonstrate the manly art of self defence. Trie shore party of Lance Corporal Taff Phillips ACC, Privates Peter Hardman and Riko Richardson did a first class job of providing impeccable cuisine in unusual locations—well recced and, by pure chance, in the vicinity of friendly publicans who had no objections to wet suited customers. S N O W VENTURE FOR three weeks, 16 Battalion took up residence in Glenmore forest at the foot of the Cairngorm mountain. Snow Venture was an adventure training exercise with the accent on skHng although some mountaineering was included. The participants also discovered what living in a tented camp with three feet of snow and eighteen degrees of frost involved—not to mention gales and blizzards! However, the camp proved to be a model of organisation and with electric light, heaters (even a hair dryer and iron for the ladies) no-one suffered! Evel TCnievel of the ski world, Captain Jim Tilling, opened the proceedings with an incredible display of impromptu free style ski-ing the result of which was that the local skidoo driver will never be the same again; we understand he is now drawing his old age pension—at the age of twenty five! Other members of the group also tended to adopt rather unorthodox techniques and Captain Ken Jackson's * attack' on the White Lady ski run convinced an awed onlooker that he was really a redun- dant Kamikaze pilot. In the meantime Lieutenant Jonathan Lydden had mastered his own particular method of s t o p p i n g - calculate speed, then select a patch of heather of suitable density. Midway through the exercise we became alarmed at reports of a ghostly figure seen roaming aimlessly through the trees and snowy wastes at midnight—was this the phantom highlander? The following morning all was explained—Private Peter Watson had only mis-laid his skis again. Special mention must be made of our long suffering ski instructor Corporal Tony Richardson—although as the photo- graph shows, some of the suffering was quite endurable! |
| Book number | R0247 |